THERESA May says she will not “shirk” her responsibility in the Tory battle against Scottish independence.
In her speech to the Scottish Conservative Party Conference in Glasgow, the Prime Minister gave her clearest hint yet that she was ready to fight a second referendum on Scottish independence.
It was an odd speech, warmly received by the 500 or so delegates half filling the downstairs of Glasgow’s SECC.
The Tory leader attacked the SNP for being obsessed with the constitution, criticising them for wanting to take Scotland out of its biggest trading market.
Then she effortlessly moved on to Brexit, and the opportunities for the UK of leaving its biggest trading market.
Angus Robertson, the SNP leader in Westminster, described May’s address as “ironic, hypocritical and surreal”.
Independence and the United Kingdom were the main themes of the Prime Minister’s speech - May mentioned the union 33 times.
The Tory leader said she was “determined to ensure that as we leave the EU we do so as one United Kingdom”.
Setting out her vision for a post-Brexit Scotland in the union, the Prime Minister hinted that the devolution settlement might be up for reform, as it was “designed in 1998 without any thought of a potential Brexit.”
May said she wanted to “build a new ‘collective responsibility’ across the United Kingdom, which unites all layers of government, to work positively together to improve the lives of everyone in our country”.
The UK government had a fundamental responsibility to the whole of the country, and that could not be undermined by a devolved administration, she added.
She continued: “In those areas where the UK Government holds the policy levers, we will use them wisely to the benefit of Scottish firms and workers.
“Where the Scottish Government hold the levers, in areas like skills and infrastructure, we will seek to work with them to ensure the best outcomes for Scotland.”
On powers coming to Scotland from the EU after Brexit, the Tory leader said her government needed to “ensure that the United Kingdom can operate as effectively as possible in the future.”
“As we bring powers and control back to the United Kingdom, we must ensure that the right powers sit at the right level to ensure our United Kingdom can operate effectively and in the interests of all of its citizens, including people in Scotland.”
This would mean a need to “avoid any unintended consequences for the coherence and integrity of a devolved United Kingdom as a result of our leaving the EU.
“As I have made clear repeatedly, no decisions currently taken by the Scottish Parliament will be removed from them."
Robertson said May was a guilty of hypocrisy for accusing the SNP of being obsessed with constitutional affairs: “This was an ironic, hypocritical and surreal speech from Theresa May, who before the EU referendum supported a campaign warning that leaving Europe would be a disaster, but is now determined to pull us over the cliff edge of an economically catastrophic hard Brexit.
“Theresa May is guilty of mind-boggling hypocrisy – it is her government’s constitutional obsession with a hard Brexit which is directly threatening Scottish jobs and livelihoods.
“In those circumstances, we have a duty to stand up for Scotland, and to have a plan in place to protect our vital national interests.
“And the Scottish Government has a cast-iron democratic mandate for an independence referendum if that is the chosen route to protect those interests. It was a specific manifesto commitment on which the SNP was re-elected just 10 months ago.
“Polling shows a majority in favour of a Brexit-related independence referendum, with fewer than a quarter of people opposed to any referendum.
“The Prime Minister’s claim the UK is a family of nations rings especially hollow, when the Scottish Government’s genuine offer of compromise has been repeatedly rebuffed and ignored.”
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